Black & McDonald donates $100,000 to Durham College skilled trades centre

Ontario Construction News staff writer

Black & McDonald has donated $100,000 to help fund Durham College’s new Ontario Power Generation Centre for Skilled Trades and Technology (CSTT).

“We know that increasing the diversity of the workforce has great merit and benefit beyond the obvious increase in available tradespeople, and see that Durham College is taking steps in this direction too as they work to increase enrolment. We’re delighted to support this expansion and revitalization project,” said Mark Healy, regional vice president of Black & McDonald.

In support of the Centre for Skilled Trades and Technology, Durham College is currently trying to raise $10 million from the community.

“We’re incredibly proud and appreciative to have Black & McDonald as a partner in our expansion plans and our outreach to demographic groups under-represented in the construction and industrial skilled trades,” said Don Lovisa, president of Durham College.

“Expansion and diversity are necessary to both meet the need of our applicants – who greatly outnumber the seats we have in our programs – and employers who are increasingly challenged to find the talent they need for their business success.”

The addition of 60,000+ square feet of shops, labs, classrooms and student amenities and the re-purposing and renovation of pre-existing space will support an additional 750 construction and industrial skilled trades students and apprentices.

“We hire from just about all of the skilled trades represented at Durham College, and, especially with the bulge of retirement-age skilled tradespeople in the workforce now and the major infrastructure projects underway in the eastern GTA, we are really feeling the staffing pinch,” says Mark Healy, regional vice-president, Black & McDonald.

“We know that increasing the diversity of the workforce has great merit and benefit beyond the obvious increase in available tradespeople, and see that DC is taking steps in this direction too, as they work to increase enrolment.

“We’re delighted to support this expansion and revitalization project.”

To learn more about the Whitby Campus expansion and revitalization initiative and the Building for Skills campaign and how you can participate, please contact jennifer.clark@durhamcollege.ca.

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